Ocean-themed music including Debussy’s La Mer, Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides Overture and Toshio Hosokawa’s Circulating Ocean Hong Kong Premiere (30 & 31 March)
6 MAR 2018
Hong Kong
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Meggy Cheng
Director of Marketing
Tel: (852) 2721 9035
Email: meggy.cheng@hkphil.org
[6 March 2018, Hong Kong]TheHong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) and Maestro Jun Märkl present an ocean-themed programme on 30 & 31 March 2018 in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall.
"Jun Märkl’s outstanding Debussy series makes every piece sound like one of the most cherishable masterworks in the repertoire.”
--- Classic FM
Jun Märkl is known for his refined and idiomatic explorations of the French impressionists. In this concert, he marks the centenary of the death of one of France’s most famous composers, Claude Debussy, with a performance of his famous evocation of the sea in all its moods, La Mer.Märkl will also lead the HK Phil in the Hong Kong premiere of Circulating Ocean, a richly colourful score by Japanese contemporary composer Toshio Hosokawa. The programme also includes Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides Overture which portrays the violent seas off the west coast of Scotland, and the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla’s highly atmospheric piano concerto, Nights in the Gardens of Spain, performed by Argentinean pianist Ingrid Fliter. (A change from the advertised programme made at the request of the soloist.)
Winner of the Gilmore Artist Award in 2006, Ingrid Filter, whose playing has been described as showing “poetic lyricism and electrifying, nimble virtuosity” and “attaining an incredible iridescent energy”, gives a rare Hong Kong performance of Falla’s famous work which was composed during the period in which Falla was living and working in the French capital. This lush symphonic impression of the great gardens of his native Spain is full of the vibrant colours and strutting rhythms of Spain.
The concert opener, Toshio Hosokawa’s Circulating Ocean, premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 2005. The composer has been writing works on the theme of ocean, which is for him the birthplace of life. The water evaporates and becomes clouds, the rain then pours down back into the ocean and turns to storm, the ocean rages. In time the storm abates, the ocean regains a deep silence. The water once again becoming fog ascends from the ocean to the sky. This image became the basis of the music.
Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides Overture recounts a nerve-wracking trip the composer made in a small boat on the rough and violent seas off the west coast of Scotland. From its very first note, the bleakness of the Hebridean seascape is vividly portrayed.
Last but not least, Jun Märkl will direct the journey through Claude Debussy’s evocative portrayal of the sea in all its moods. In La Mer, the composer found inspiration both in literature and in painting, including the famous image of Mount Fuji by the Japanese painter Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa.
Tickets priced: HK$480, $380, $280, $180 are now available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit www.hkphil.org.
Artists
Jun Märkl, conductor [full biography]
Jun Märkl has long been known as a highly respected interpreter of the core Germanic repertoire and more recently for his refined and idiomatic explorations of the French impressionists. His long-standing relationships at the state operas of Vienna, Berlin, Munich and Semperoper Dresden have in recent years been complemented by his Music Directorships of the Orchestre National de Lyon (2005-11) and MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig (to 2012). He was appointed Principal Conductor of the Basque National Orchestra for 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons and Principal Conductor of Pacific Music Festival (Japan) for 2015. He guests with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic and Tonhalle Orchester Zürich.
Ingrid Fliter, piano [full biography ]
Argentinean pianist Ingrid Fliter sprang to international attention when she was awarded the 2006 Gilmore Artist Award. She is one of only a handful of pianists to have received this honour, which is presented to an exceptional pianist who, regardless of age or nationality, possesses profound musicianship and charisma and who sustains a career as a major international concert artist. Fliter now divides her time between Europe and the US, where she works with orchestras such as the Cincinnati Symphony, Cleveland, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota, National Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, St Louis Symphony and Toronto Symphony.
Toshio Hosokawa, composer [full biography]
Toshio Hosokawa was born in Hiroshima in 1955. His compositions include orchestral works, solo concertos, chamber music and film music alongside works for traditional Japanese instruments. Influences from both Western music - from Schubert to Webern - and traditional Japanese music can be recognised in his compositions. Hosokawa considers the compositional process to be instinctively associated with the concepts of Zen Buddhism and its symbolic interpretation of nature.
BRAVO SERIES: MÄRKL’S DEBUSSY
30 & 31 | 3 | 2018
FRI & SAT 8PM
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK$480 $380 $280 $180
Tickets are now available at URBTIX
For ages 6 or above
Artists
conductor | |
piano |
Click the thumbnails to download press photos
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| Jun Märkl Photo Credit: Jean-Baptiste Millot | Ingrid Fliter Photo Credit: Sussie Ahlburg |
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| The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Photo Credit: Cheung Chi Wai/HK Phil |
Programme
| Toshio HOSOKAWA | Circulating Ocean (Hong Kong Premiere) |
| FALLA^ | Nights in the Gardens of Spain |
| MENDELSSOHN | The Hebrides Overture |
| DEBUSSY | La Mer |
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Music Director: Jaap van Zweden
Principal Guest Conductor: Yu Long
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) is recognised as Asia’s foremost classical orchestra. Presenting more than 150 concerts over a 44-week season, the HK Phil attracts more than 200,000 music lovers annually.
Jaap van Zweden, one of today’s most sought-after conductors, has been the orchestra’s Music Director since the 2012/13 concert season, a position he will continue to hold until 2022. Maestro van Zweden will be the next Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from the 2018/19 season.
Yu Long was appointed Principal Guest Conductor with the HK Phil for a three-year period commencing with the 2015/16 season.
Under the dynamic leadership of Music Director Jaap van Zweden, the HK Phil has attained new heights of artistic excellence, garnering international critical acclaim.
Following on from the success of the European tour which included a filmed concert from Vienna’s Musikverein, the HK Phil has toured extensively within the mainland China. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR, and with support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices, the orchestra recently performed in Seoul, Osaka, Singapore, Melbourne and at the Sydney Opera House.
Jaap, the HK Phil, and a superb casts of soloists, have presented concert performances and recordings of the four operas from Richard Wagner’s epic Ring cycle. These have been enthusiastically endorsed by both audiences and critics at home and abroad, and in recognition of their quality, the orchestra and Jaap have been invited to perform Wagner’s Die Walküre in staged performances at the Beijing Music Festival last October in a co-production with the Salzburg Easter Festival.
Conductors and soloists who have recently performed with the orchestra include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Matthias Goerne, Stephen Hough, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Ning Feng and Yuja Wang.
The HK Phil promotes the work of Hong Kong and Chinese composers through an active commissioning programme, and has released recordings on the Naxos label featuring Tan Dun and Bright Sheng, each conducting their own compositions. Its acclaimed education and community engagement programmes in schools, hospital and outdoor space, bring music into the hearts of tens of thousands of children and families every year.
The Swire Group has been the Principal Patron of the HK Phil since 2006. Through this sponsorship, which is the largest in the orchestra’s history, Swire endeavours to promote artistic excellence, foster access to classical music and stimulate cultural participation in Hong Kong, and to enhance Hong Kong’s reputation as one of the great cities of the world.
Thanks to a significant subsidy from the Hong Kong Government and long-term funding from Principal Patron Swire, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and other supporters, the HK Phil now boasts a full-time annual schedule of core classical repertoire and innovative popular programming, extensive education and community programmes, and collaborations with, among others, Opera Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Arts Festival.
Originally called the Sino-British Orchestra, it was renamed the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 1957 and became fully professional in 1974. The HK Phil is a charitable organisation.
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and is Venue Partner of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
SWIRE is the Principal Patron of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.